Prayers and condolences for former Cambodian king; thousands expected to see body come home

By Associated Press,  

Updated: Tuesday, October 16, 2012

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambodians prayed for the soul of their former King Norodom Sihanouk on Tuesday and world leaders sent their condolences as the country prepared for the return of his body.

Sihanouk died Monday at age 89 of a heart attack in Beijing, where he had been receiving medical treatment since January for multiple ailments. Officials expect at least 100,000 people to line the route from the Phnom Penh airport, where his body is expected to arrive Wednesday, to the Royal Palace, where it will lay in state during a week of official mourning.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen late Monday ordered all radio and television stations not to play inappropriately lighthearted music or programming that might show disrespect to the late monarch, who abdicated in 2004 in favor of his son Sihamoni.

Sihanouk’s body will remain in the palace for a total of three months, during which time the public can pay respects before it is cremated according to Buddhist ritual.

Nearly 100 Buddhist monks and nuns chanted and prayed for Sihanouk at a one-hour ceremony Tuesday at a pagoda near the Royal Palace.

“As Buddhists, we believe that our chanting and praying will help send the soul of our beloved king-father to rest in peace and be quickly reborn,” said Ngoun Pheadkey, a 22-year-old Buddhist monk. He added that the ceremony was also to express gratitude to the former king for his leadership and legacy.

Bunches of flowers lay on the sidewalk against the palace walls Tuesday. Several dozen people, mostly older, traveled into the capital from other provinces after hearing of Sihanouk’s death.

“All the people in Kampong Chhnang province were very upset and full of regret when they heard that he had died,” said Pen Sominea, 50, a cook. “Everybody wishes he had not died now and that he could have lived longer.”

Sihanouk was the last surviving Southeast Asian leader who pioneered his nation through postwar independence. Like U Nu of Burma — now called Myanmar — and Sukarno of Indonesia, he tried to steer his country on a neutralist course during the Cold War.

Eventually, however, his country became enmeshed in the conflict in neighboring Vietnam, leading to his first fall from power and culminating in the murderous rule of the communist Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s, during which about 1.7 million of his countrymen perished.

His legacy became tainted because in an effort to regain his political influence, he made common cause with Khmer Rouge, though the regime never yielded power to him and killed five of his children.

After the Khmer Rouge were ousted, and Sihanouk regained the throne in 1993, he rebuilt his reputation as the conscience of his country. But Hun Sen, a tough and canny politician who had defected from the Khmer Rouge, undercut his influence, and a discouraged Sihanouk gave up the throne eight years ago. Sihanouk spent much of the rest of his life in China.

The passage of time and Sihanouk’s retreat into quiet retirement in China made the once-dynamic monarch more of a historical figure than a contemporary statesman, but his passing was noted internationally.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sent condolences and acknowledged Sihanouk’s “long dedication to his country and his legacy as a unifying national leader who is revered by Cambodians and respected internationally,” U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

“The secretary-general also hopes that the legacy of the former king will allow Cambodia to advance the national healing process, including through continued commitment to justice,” Nesirky said. Hun Sen is an autocratic if elected leader with a poor human rights record.

From neighboring Thailand — another of the few remaining monarchies of Asia — came a note of sympathy from 84-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who like Sihanouk gained the throne in the 1940s. The United States likewise sent condolences.

An effusive tribute came from President Francois Hollande of Cambodia’s one-time colonizer, France. The countries retain friendly ties.

“I salute the memory of a great man who embodied the destiny of his country and his people, through the hardships of the most terrible events of the twentieth century, and the construction of peace, where he always found France at his side,” Hollande said in a letter.